1. 1. EXODUS 10 COMME TARY EDITED BY GLE PEASE I TRODUCTIO PETER PETT, "Introduction Yahwehs Battle With Pharaoh - The Ten Plagues (Exodus 7:14 to Exodus 12:51) In the first seven chapters we have seen how God raised up Moses to deliver His people, and how when he approached Pharaoh with a simple request that they might go into the wilderness and worship Him because He had revealed Himself in a theophany there, Pharaoh had reacted savagely and had increased Israels burdens. Then Yahweh had promised to Moses that He would reveal His name in mighty action and deliver them, but had initially provided Pharaoh with a further opportunity to consider by three signs which Pharaoh had rejected. ow He would begin in earnest. The first nine plagues that follow were the intensification of natural occurrences that struck Egypt from time to time. Yet they came in such a way and with such effect and were so intense that they could not be described as natural, for they came when called on, ceased when Yahweh commanded, and affected only what Yahweh wanted affecting. They were thus supernaturally controlled natural phenomenon. Because these plagues were common to natural occurrences that took place in Egypt they were connected with the gods of Egypt, for the Egyptians had gods which were connected with every part of life. Thus the very plagues meant that Yahweh was, in Egyptian eyes, in conflict with the gods of Egypt. However, it is important to recognise that the writer only mentions the gods of Egypt once (Exodus 12:12), and there only in relation to the slaying of the firstborn because at least one of the firstborn who would die would be connected with a god (Pharaoh). Thus he is drawing attention to Yahwehs dealings with Pharaoh and the Egyptians rather than with their gods. This indicates that while the gods may have had the Egyptians as their servants, they did not have any control of the land or of nature. The writer is clearly monotheistic. To him the gods of Egypt are an irrelevance. The Overall Pattern of the arrative. The first nine plagues can be divided into three sets of three as follows; The first three - water turned to blood (Exodus 7:14-25), plague of frogs (Exodus 8:1-15), plague of ticks and similar insects (Exodus 8:16-19).
2. 2. The second three - plague of swarms of flying insects (Exodus 8:20-32), cattle disease (Exodus 9:1-7), boils (Exodus 9:8-12). The third three - great hail (Exodus 9:13-35), plague of locusts (Exodus 10:1- 20), thick darkness (Exodus 10:21-27). As we have seen in Part 1 the previous section of Exodus has been mainly based on a series of chiastic and similar patterns which demonstrate the unity of the narrative. Here the overall pattern changes to a more complicated one in view of the combined subject matter, but the underlying pattern is the same nevertheless. For we should note that there is a definite pattern in these series of threes. The first and second of each of the judgments in each series is announced to the Pharaoh before it takes place, while in each case the third is unannounced. The first incident of each series of three is to take place early in the morning, and in the first and second of these first incidents of three the place where Moses meets Pharaoh is by the ile, in the third it is before Pharaoh. The second judgment in each series is announced in the king's palace. The third judgment in each series comes without the Pharaoh or the Egyptians being warned. As these judgments from God continue, their severity increases until the last three bring the Egyptian people to a place where life itself becomes almost impossible, and their economy is almost totally destroyed. The huge hailstones kept them in their homes and wrecked their environment, the locusts ate up what the hail had left and made life unbearable, and the thick darkness kept them in solitude even from each other. They must have wondered what was coming next. Furthermore in the first two judgments the magicians pit themselves against Moses as they imitate the judgments of blood and frogs, but in the third judgment of the first series, that of ticks, they are forced to yield and acknowledge, "This is the finger of God" (Exodus 8:19) and from then on they withdraw from the contest. In the sixth they cannot even stand before Moses, presumably because of the effect of the boils which they could do nothing about. It is noteworthy in this regard that while blood and frogs can easily be manipulated by conjurors, ticks are a different proposition, for they cannot be so easily controlled. In the second series an important distinction is drawn between the Israelites and the Egyptians, for from then on only the Egyptians are affected, and not the whole land of Egypt as previously. Several times the specific protection of Israel is mentioned. As the intensity of the plagues increases, so does the intensity of the Pharaoh's desire to secure the intervention of Moses and Aaron for deliverance from the plague (consider Exodus 8:8; Exodus 8:25; Exodus 8:28; Exodus 9:27-28; Exodus 10:16-17; Exodus 10:24), and Moses becomes more outspoken. In the first series of three judgments the staff of Aaron is used, in the second series of three no staff is mentioned and in the third series either the hand or staff of Moses is prominent. ote also that in two cases in the second series neither Moses
3. 3. nor Aaron do anything. Thus an instrument is used seven times. These overall patterns clearly demonstrate the unity of the narrative. Another division can be made in that the first four plagues are personal in effect producing annoyance and distress while the next four inflict serious damage on property and person, the ninth is the extreme of the first four and the tenth the extreme of the second four. This further confirms the impression of unity. The same is true of the wording and ideas used throughout. We have noted above the three sets of three plagues, and that in the first plague of each set Moses goes to Pharaoh in the early morning, either to the river or before Pharaoh, while in the second in each set Moses goes to the palace, and in the third plague in each set the plague occurs without warning. ow we should note the intricate pattern of phrases and ideas which are regularly repeated. We should, for example, note that God says let my people go seven times, the divinely perfect number (although only six times before specific plagues - Exodus 5:1; Exodus 7:16; Exodus 8:1; Exodus 8:20; Exodus 9:1; Exodus 9:13; Exodus 10:3). This is significant in the light of what follows below. We should also note that there is a central core around which each plague is described, although the details vary. This central core is: A description in detail of what will happen (Plague one - Exodus 7:17-18; plague two - Exodus 8:2-4; plague three - no separate description; plague four - Exodus 8:21; plague five - Exodus 9:3-4; plague six - Exodus 9:9; plague seven - Exodus 9:15; plague eight - Exodus 10:4-6; plague nine - no separate description). The call to Moses either to instruct Aaron (three times - Exodus 7:19; Exodus 8:5; Exodus 8:16) or to act himself (three times - Exodus 9:22; Exodus 10:12; Exodus 10:21) or for them both to act (once - Exodus 9:8). The action taken (Exodus 7:20; Exodus 8:6; Exodus 8:17; no action; no action; Exodus 9:10; Exodus 9:23; Exodus 10:13; Exodus 10:22). And an inevitable description of the consequences, which parallels the previous description where given (Exodus 7:21; Exodus 8:6; Exodus 8:17; Exodus 8:24; Exodus 9:6-7; Exodus 9:10-11; Exodus 9:23-26; Exodus 10:13-15; Exodus 10:22-23). It may be argued that this core was largely inevitable, and to a certain extent that is true, but we should note that while there are nine plagues, there are only seven separate prior descriptions, and as previously noted seven calls to act followed by that action, but the sevens are not in each case for the same plagues. Thus the narrative is carefully built around sevens. This can be exemplified further. For example, Pharaohs initial response to their approach is mentioned three times, in that Pharaoh reacts against the people (Exodus 5:5-6); calls for his magicians (Exodus 7:11); and makes a compromise offer and then drives Moses and Aaron from his presence (Exodus 10:11). It indicates his complete action but denies to him the number seven. That is retained for Yahweh and His actions as we shall see, or
4. 4. for Pharaohs negativity overall caused by Yahweh. One significant feature is that Pharaohs final response grows in intensity. 1). Yahweh hardened his heart so that he did not listen to them as Yahweh had said (Exodus 7:13) (Yahweh hardening him, and that he would not let the people go had been forecast in Exodus 4:21). This was prior to the plagues. 2). His heart was hardened and he did not listen to them as Yahweh had said, and he turned and went into his house, nor did he set his heart to this also (Exodus 7:22-23). 3). He entreated Yahweh to take away the plague and said that he would let the people go to worship Yahweh (Exodus 8:8), and later hardened his heart and did not listen to them as Yahweh had said (Exodus 8:15). 4). Pharaohs heart was hardened and he did not listen to them as Yahweh had said (Exodus 8:19). 5). He told Moses and Aaron that they may sacrifice in the land (Exodus 8:25), and then, on Moses refusing his offer, said that they may sacrifice in the wilderness but not go far away (Exodus 8:28) which Moses accepts, but later Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go (Exodus 8:32). 6). He sent to find out what had happened and then his heart was hardened and he would not let the people go (Exodus 9:7). 7). Yahweh hardened his heart and he did not listen to them as Yahweh had spoken to Moses (Exodus 9:12). 8). Pharaoh admitted that he had sinned, asked them to entreat for him, and said I will let you go and you will stay no longer (Exodus 9:27-28). Then he sinned yet more and hardened his heart, he and his servants (Exodus 9:34), and his heart was hardened nor would he let the children of Israel go as Yahweh had spoken to Moses (Exodus 9:35). 9). Pharaoh admitted that he had sinned, and asked them to entreat Yahweh for him (Exodus 10:17), but later Yahweh hardened his heart so that he would not let the children of Israel go (Exodus 10:20). 10). Pharaoh said that they might go apart from their cattle (Exodus 10:24), and on Moses refusing Yahweh hardened Pharaohs heart and he would not let them go (Exodus 10:27), and he commanded that they leave his presence and not return on pain of death (Exodus 10:28). 11). In the summary Yahweh hardened Pharaohs heart so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land (Exodus 11:10). We note from the above that Pharaoh will not listen to you occurs twice (Exodus 7:4; Exodus 11:9), did not listen to them as Yahweh had said occurs four times (Exodus 7:13; Exodus 7:22; Exodus 8:15; Exodus 19); and did not listen to them as Yahweh had spoken to Moses occurs once (Exodus 9:12), thus his not being willing to listen occurs seven times in all (the phrase as Yahweh had spoken to Moses occurs twice (Exodus 9:12; Exodus 9:35), but not as connected with not listening). In contrast he entreats that Yahweh will show mercy four times (Exodus 8:8; Exodus 8:28; Exodus 9:27; Exodus 10:17), and parleys with Moses three times (Exodus 8:8; Exodus 8:25; Exodus 10:24), making seven in all. Yahweh hardened
5. 5. his heart five times (Exodus 7:13; Exodus 9:12; Exodus 10:20; Exodus 10:27; Exodus 11:10), which with Exodus 4:21 and Exodus 10:1 makes seven times. (Yahweh also hardened his heart in Exodus 14:8, but that was over the matter of pursuing the fleeing people. See also Exodus 14:4; Exodus 14:17. He said that He would do it in Exodus 7:3). His heart was hardened (by himself?) four times (Exodus 7:22; Exodus 8:19; Exodus 9:7; Exodus 9:35), and he hardened his own heart three times (Exodus 8:15; Exodus 8:32; Exodus 9:34), again making seven times. It is said that he would not let the people go five times (Exodus 8:32; Exodus 9:7; Exodus 9:35; Exodus 10:20; Exodus 11:10). With Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:14 that makes not letting the people go seven times. Yahweh told Pharaoh to let His people go seven times (Exodus 5:1; Exodus 7:16; Exodus 8:1; Exodus 8:20; Exodus 9:1; Exodus 9:13; Exodus 10:3). Thus the writer would clearly seem to have been deliberately aiming at sevenfold repetition, and this sevenfoldness is spread throughout the narrative in different ways, stressing the total unity of the passage. One or two sevens might be seen as accidental but not so many. Taking with this the fact that each narrative forms a definite pattern any suggestion of fragmented sources of any size that can be identified is clearly not permissible. Thus apart from an occasional added comment, and in view of the way that covenants were always recorded in writing, there seems little reason to doubt that Exodus was written under the supervision of Moses or from material received from him as was constantly believed thereafter. Other Old Testament books certainly assert the essential Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch (the Law) demonstrating the strong tradition supporting the claim (see 1 Kings 2:3; 1 Kings 8:53; 2 Kings 14:6; 2 Kings 18:6; 2 Kings 18:12). More importantly Jesus Christ Himself saw the Pentateuch as the writings of Moses (John 5:46-47), and as without error (Matthew 5:17-18), and indicated Moses connection with Deuteronomy (Matthew 19:7-8; Mark 10:3-5). See also Peter (Acts 3:22), Stephen (Acts 7:37-38), Paul (Romans 10:19; 1 Corinthians 9:9), and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 10:28). One fact that brings out Pharaohs total selfishness and disregard for his people is that he only asks Moses to entreat Yahweh to remove a plague four times, in the case of the frogs, the flying insects, the hail and the locusts. These were the ones that would personally affect him the most. The narrative is totally consistent. The Plagues In The Light Of atural Phenomena. We will now try to see the plagues in the light of natural phenomena, recognising that God used natural phenomena, enhancing it where necessary, to accomplish His purpose. While the land waited totally unaware of the forces that were gathering He knew exactly what was coming and what He would do with it and directed Moses accordingly. The first nine plagues form a logical and connected sequence if we work on the basis
6. 6. that in that year there was an abnormally high inundation of the ile occurring in July and August. In Egypt too high an inundation of the ile could be as bad as too low an inundation, and this was clearly beyond anything known. This would be caused by abnormal weather conditions in lands to the south of Egypt of a kind rarely experienced which may well have also caused the effects not produced directly by the inundation. The higher the ile-flood was, the more earth it carried within it, especially of the red earth from the basins of the Blue ile and Atbara. And the more earth it carried the redder it became. The flood would further bring down with it flood microcosms known as flagellates and associated bacteria. These would heighten the blood-red colour of the water and create conditions in which the fish would die in large numbers (Exodus 7:21). Their decomposition would then foul the water further and cause a stench (Exodus 7:21). The water would be undrinkable and the only hope of obtaining fresh water would be to dig for it (Exodus 7:24). The whole of Egypt would of course be affected. This is the background to the first plague. The result of these conditions would be that the decomposing fish would be washed along the banks and backwaters of the ile polluting the haunts of the frogs, who would thus swarm out in huge numbers seeking refuge elsewhere (Exodus 8:3). Their sudden death would suggest internal anthrax which would explain their rapid putrefaction (Exodus 8:13-14). This is the background to the second plague. The high level of the ile-flood would provide especially favourable conditions for mosquitoes, which may partly explain either the ken (ticks/lice/fleas) (Exodus 8:16) or the arob (swarms) (Exodus 8:21), while the rotting carcasses of the fish and frogs would encourage other forms of insect life to develop, as would excessive deposits of the red earth which may have brought insect eggs with them. Insects would proliferate throughout the land (Exodus 8:16). These might include lice and also the tick, an eight-legged arthropod and blood-sucking parasite and carrier of disease, as well as fleas. This is the background to the third plague. As well as mosquitoes from the ile flood, flies would also develop among the rotting fish, the dead frogs and the decaying vegetation, including the carrier-fly, the stomoxys calcitrans (which might well be responsible for the later boils), and become carriers of disease from these sources. The swarms may well have included both (Exodus 8:21). This is the background to the fourth plague. The dying frogs might well have passed on anthrax, and the proliferating insects would pass on other diseases, to the cattle and flocks who were out in the open (Exodus 9:3) and therefore more vulnerable. This is the background to the fifth plague. The dead cattle would add to the sources of disease carried by these insects, and the insect bites, combined with the bites of the other insects, may well have caused the boils (Exodus 9:9). This would occur around December/January. It may well be the background to the sixth plague.
7. 7. Thus the first six plagues in a sense follow naturally from one another given the right conditions, but it is their timing, extremeness and Moses knowledge of them that prove the hand of God at work. The excessively heavy hail (Exodus 9:22), with thunder, lightning and rain, may well have resulted from the previously mentioned extreme weather conditions, but it went beyond anything known and was exceptional, resulting in death and destruction, and the ruination of the barley and flax, but not the wheat and spelt which was not yet grown (Exodus 8:31-32). (This indicates a good knowledge of Egyptian agriculture). This would probably be in early February. The excessively heavy rains in Ethiopia and the Sudan which led to the extraordinarily high ile would cause the conditions favourable to an unusually large plague of locusts (Exodus 10:4; Exodus 10:13), which would eventually be blown down into orthern Egypt and then along the ile valley by the east wind (Exodus 10:13). The thick darkness (Exodus 10:21) that could be felt was probably an unusually heavy khamsin dust storm resulting from the large amounts of red earth which the ile had deposited which would have dried out as a fine dust, together with the usual sand of the desert. The khamsin wind would stir all this up making the air unusually thick and dark, blotting out the light of the sun. Three days is the known length of a khamsin (Exodus 10:23). This, coming on top of all that had come before, and seeming to affect the sun god himself, would have a devastating effect. These unusual and freak events demonstrate an extremely good knowledge of Egyptian weather conditions with their particular accompanying problems, which could only have been written in the right order by someone with a good knowledge of the peculiar conditions in Egypt which could produce such catastrophes, confirming the Egyptian provenance of the record and the unity of the account. In all this the gods of Egypt would be prominent to the Egyptians as the people were made aware that the God of the Hebrews was doing this, and that their gods could seemingly do nothing about it. Prominent among these would be Hapi, the ile god of inundation, Heqit the goddess of fruitfulness, whose symbol was the frog, Hathor the goddess of love, often symbolised by the cow, along with Apis the bull god, Osiris for whom the ile was his life-blood, now out of control, the goddess Hatmehyt whose symbol was a fish, and of whom models were worn as charms, ut the sky goddess, Reshpu and Ketesh who were supposed to control all the elements of nature except light, and Re the sun god. All these would be seen to be unable to prevent Yahweh doing His work and thus to have been at least temporarily defeated. But it should be noted that that is the Egyptian viewpoint. Moses only mentions the gods of Egypt once, and that is probably sarcastically (Exodus 12:12). As far as he is concerned they are nothing. They are irrelevant.
8. 8. The Plague of Locusts 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them CLARKE, "Hardened his heart - God suffered his natural obstinacy to prevail, that he might have farther opportunities of showing forth his eternal power and Godhead. GILL, "And the Lord said unto Moses, go in unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart,.... Or, as some render it, "though I have hardened his heart" (u); or otherwise it would seem rather to be a reason he should not go, than why he should; at least it would be discouraging, and he might object to what purpose should he go, it would be in vain, no end would be answered by it; though there was an end God had in view, and which was answered by hardening his heart: and the heart of his servants; whose hearts also were hardened until now; until the plague of the locusts was threatened, and then they relent; which end was as follows: that I might shew these my signs before him; which had been shown already, and others that were to be done, see Exo_7:3 or in the midst of him (w), in the midst of his land, or in his heart, see Exo_9:14. HE RY 1-2, "Here, I. Moses is instructed. We may well suppose that he, for his part, was much astonished both at Pharaoh's obstinacy and at God's severity, and could not but be compassionately concerned for the desolations of Egypt, and at a loss to conceive what this contest would come to at last. Now here God tells him what he designed, not only Israel's release, but the magnifying of his own name: That thou mayest tell in thy writings, which shall continue to the world's end, what I have wrought in Egypt, Exo_ 10:1, Exo_10:2. The ten plagues of Egypt must be inflicted, that they may be recorded for the generations to come as undeniable proofs, 1. Of God's overruling power in the
9. 9. kingdom of nature, his dominion over all the creatures, and his authority to use them either as servants to his justice or sufferers by it, according to the counsel of his will. 2. Of God's victorious power over the kingdom of Satan, to restrain the malice and chastise the insolence of his and his church's enemies. These plagues are standing monuments of the greatness of God, the happiness of the church, and the sinfulness of sin, and standing monitors to the children of men in all ages not to provoke the Lord to jealousy nor to strive with their Maker. The benefit of these instructions to the world sufficiently balances the expense. JAMISO , "Exo_10:1-20. Plague of locusts. show these my signs, etc. Sinners even of the worst description are to be admonished even though there may be little hope of amendment, and hence those striking miracles that carried so clear and conclusive demonstration of the being and character of the true God were performed in lengthened series before Pharaoh to leave him without excuse when judgment should be finally executed. K&D 1-2, "The eighth plague; the Locusts. - Exo_10:1-6. As Pharaoh's pride still refused to bend to the will of God, Moses was directed to announce another, and in some respects a more fearful, plague. At the same time God strengthened Moses' faith, by telling him that the hardening of Pharaoh and his servants was decreed by Him, that these signs might be done among them, and that Israel might perceive by this to all generations that He was Jehovah (cf. Exo_7:3-5). We may learn from Ps 78 and 105 in what manner the Israelites narrated these signs to their children and children's children. , to set or prepare signs (Exo_10:1), is interchanged with (Exo_10:2) in the same sense (vid., Exo_8:12). The suffix in (Exo_10:1) refers to Egypt as a country; and that in (Exo_10:2) to the Egyptians. In the expression, thou mayest tell, Moses is addressed as the representative of the nation. : to have to do with a person, generally in a bad sense, to do him harm (1Sa_31:4). How I have put forth My might (De Wette). CALVI , "1.And the Lord said. Moses passes on to another plague, whereby God took vengeance on the treachery and obstinacy of the wicked king; viz., that He gave over the remaining produce of the year, which He had spared, to be eaten and devoured by locusts. And this was no ordinary punishment, to destroy Egypt by dearth and famine, when all their corn had perished. But, before Moses proceeds to this, he again relates that he was the proclaimer of this plague, and that God had announced to him the reason why Pharaoh had so often resisted to his own injury. Therefore God says, that He had hardened his heart, in order that he might show forth these miracles and evidences of His power; for if Pharaoh had been humbled, and had yielded immediately, the contest would have been superfluous; since what would be the object of contending with a conquered and prostrate enemy? The obstinacy of the tyrant, then, in so often provoking God, opened the way to more miracles, as fire is produced by the collision of flint and iron. Thence also the silly imagination is refuted, that the heart of Pharaoh was no otherwise hardened than as
10. 10. the miracles were set. before his eyes; for Moses does not say that his heart was divinely hardened by the sight of the signs, but that it pleased God in this manner to manifest His power. Hence also we gather, that whatever occurred was predestinated by the sure counsel of God. For God willed to redeem His people in a singular and unusual way. That this redemption might be more conspicuous and glorious, He set up Pharaoh against himself like a rock of stone, which by its hardness might afford a cause for new and more remarkable miracles. Pharaoh was, therefore, hardened by the marvelous providence of God with this object, that the grace of His deliverance might be neither despicable nor obscure. For God regarded tits own people more than the Egyptians, as immediately appears, that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy sons son, etc. For far more abundant material for thanksgiving and for celebrating the memory of their deliverance was afforded, by the fact of the Israelites having seen Gods arm stretched forth so often from heaven, and with so many prodigies. Had they been redeemed by any ordinary method, the praise due to God would soon have been forgotten. It was proper, then, that their posterity should be thus instructed by their fathers, that they might have no doubts as to the author of so illustrious a work. But it is here required of the fathers, who had been eye-witnesses of the signs, that they should be diligent and assiduous in teaching their children; and on these also, care and attention in learning is enjoined, that the recollection of Gods mercies should flourish throughout all ages. The practical effect of this doctrine is seen in Psalms 44:0 and Psalms 105:0 BE SO , ". Go unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart That is, either, 1st, Go and make a new address unto him, for what I have yet done has but hardened his heart: or, 2d, , here translated for, must, as is often the case, be rendered although; go and speak to him again, although I have suffered his heart to be hardened, and to continue obdurate, that I might more fully display my power and providence, not only to Egypt and the adjacent countries, but to generations yet unborn, and especially to the posterity of my people Israel; that thou mayest tell (Exodus 10:2 ) in the ears of thy son, and thy sons son, what things I have wrought. These plagues are standing monuments of the greatness of God, the happiness of the church, and the sinfulness of sin; and standing monitors to the children of men in all ages, not to provoke the Lord to jealousy, nor to strive with their Maker. The benefit of these instructions to the world doth sufficiently balance the expense. COKE, "Exodus 10:1. For I have hardened his heart Or, Although I have, &c. that is, although I have suffered him still to continue obdurate, that I might more amply display my own glory, and give not only to Egypt and the nations around, but to my people Israel in particular, a striking proof and monument of my power and providence; and that to the latest generations. ELLICOTT, "1) I have hardened . . . the heart of his servants.They, too, had first hardened their own hearts (Exodus 9:34), and so deserved a penal hardening. A certain amount of responsibility rested on them. Had they allowed the miracles to have their full natural effect upon their minds, they would have been convinced that
11. 11. resistance was useless, and would have impressed their views upon the Pharaoh. Even in the most absolute governments public opinion has weight, and the general sentiment of the Court almost always carries the sovereign with it. That I might shew these my signs.There is nothing derogatory to the Divine ature in a penal hardening being, as it were, utilised to increase the glory of God, and affect for good future generations of His people. The accumulation of plague upon plague, which the obduracy of Pharaoh and his subjects brought about, was of vast importance in presenting to Israel, and even to the surrounding nations, a manifestation of the tremendous power of God, calculated to impress them as nothing else would have done. ELLICOTT, "Verses 1-4 THE EIGHTH PLAGUE. (1-4) The eighth plague, like the third and fourth, was one where insect life was called in to serve Gods purposes, and chastise the presumption of His enemies. The nature of the visitation is uncontested and incontestableit was a terrible invasion of locusts. Locusts are an occasional, though not a frequent, scourge in Egypt. They are not bred there, and necessarily arrive from some foreign country. When they descend, their ravages are as severe as elsewhere. In the present day, says Mr. Stuart Poole, locusts suddenly appear in the cultivated land, coming from the desert in a column of great length. They fly across the country, darkening the air with their compact ranks, which are undisturbed by the constant attacks of kites, crows, and vultures, and making a strange whizzing sound, like that of fire, or many distant wheels. Where they alight they devour every green thing, even stripping the trees of their leaves. Rewards are offered for their destruction; but no labour can seriously reduce their numbers (Dict. of the Bible, vol. ii., p. 887). C. iebuhr witnessed two invasionsin 1761 and 1762; Denon witnessed another about the year 1800; and Tischendorf saw one recently. They always enter Egypt either from the south or from the east, and necessarily come with a wind, since they cannot possibly fly any considerable distance without one. It is probable that at different times different varieties of the locust visit the country; but all varieties are almost equally destructive. After the loss of their cattle by murrain and hail, and the ruin of the flax and barley crops by the latter agency, nothing was wanting to complete the desolation of the country and the impoverishment of its inhabitants but the ruin of the wheat and doora crops, which the locusts speedily effected. TRAPP, "Exodus 10:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him: Ver. 1. For I have hardened his heart.] As he that brings in a light blinds an owl; or as he that pours on water kindles the lime whereupon it is poured: so the Lord by publishing his commands, and by doing his miracles, hardened the heart of Pharaoh; who, for his wilful rebellion, was justly forsaken of God, and delivered up
12. 12. to his own heart which is somewhat worse than to be delivered up to the devil. COFFMA , "Introduction Here we have Plagues VIII and IX and the continued development of the account toward its inevitable climax. Like all of the preceding signs, these also sprang out of nature, but conspicuously under the control and at the direction of Jehovah. The gradations and subtle changes in the situation noticed in the previous wonders appear here also in (1) the fact of Pharaoh's attempting to negotiate with Moses before the plague came, and (2) in the insistence of Pharaoh's own people that he let the men go. Verses 1-6 PLAGUE VIII "And Jehovah said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs in the midst of them, and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's sons, what things I have wrought upon Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them,' that ye may know that I am Jehovah. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow will I bring locusts into thy border: and they shall cover the face of the earth, so that one shall not be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remained unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree that which groweth for you out of the field: and thy house shall be filled, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; as neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned and went out from Pharaoh." "I have hardened his heart ..." See under Exodus 4:21, above. "What things I have wrought upon Egypt ..." The RSV has rendered Exodus 10:2 thus: "And that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son's son how I have made sport of the Egyptians and what things I have done among them; that you may know that I am the Lord." This must qualify as one of the most ridiculous and reprehensible translations in the entire RSV. Yes, it is true that the clause here rendered "I have made sport of them can have the bad meaning of immoral wantonness (See Judges 19:25), but here it pinpoints the sovereign power of the Lord, before which the Egyptian Pharaoh and his servants are mere playthings. It does not, of course, ascribe wantonness or thoughtless cruelty to God."[1] This is another glaring example of the critical scholars' continual efforts to discredit and destroy the Word of God by their false renditions. It is a standard procedure with them, in the case of a clause with multiple meanings, to deliberately choose the worst possible meaning, and we
13. 13. cannot allow for one moment that there is uprightness of intention in such procedures. This clause is just as well, in fact much better translated in the rendition before us, and in practically all of the great versions of history, including KJV, the Douay, and even the Good ews Bible. Johnson's comment was that: "God was not amusing himself, but there was divine irony in the fact that the antagonism of Pharaoh was simply leading to the greater manifestation of the glory of Jehovah."[2] "In the ears of thy son, and thy son's son ..." "Moses was not the only one who was to tell all these wonders ... We ourselves still also exult in God's triumphs in Egypt."[3]; Psalms 78 and Psalms 105 extol those wonders, and they have been celebrated in song and story throughout all time since they occurred. "How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me ...?" "This question shows that Pharaoh was responsible for hardening his heart,"[4] "We may rest assured that there was always a time when he might have relented; and it was because he hardened his heart at such times, that God is said to harden him."[5] "Behold, tomorrow will I bring locusts into thy border ..." There is no more dreadful scourge in nature than that of locusts. Repeatedly, during recent years, the ational Geographic Magazine has given extensive coverage to this disaster. When climatic and soil conditions are exactly right, there is a relatively common type of grasshopper that multiplies fantastically into millions, or billions, or trillions of locusts. In this explosion, they change color, with red, yellow, and black markings, and increase fantastically in size and appetite! They have been known to obscure the sun in their flight. "In Angola, July 1031, swarms of locusts completely obscured the sun for some hours." ational Geographic Magazines which have carried articles on this plague are to be found in December, 1915, April, 1953, and August, 1969. Although the Egyptians doubtless knew by hearsay about the devastating nature of a locust plague, their country was relatively free of such visitations. Just as this mighty locust plague was the harbinger of the ultimate judgment and destruction of Pharaoh, "It is also a type of the plagues which will precede the last judgment."[6] The prophet Joel (Joel 1 and Joel 2) thus interpreted a severe locust plague that struck Judah. Keil's further comment on this, we feel, is true: "The locust plague forms the groundwork for the description in Revelation 9:3-10, just as Joel discerned it as the day of the Lord, of the Great Day of Judgment, which is advancing step by step in all the great judgments of history, or rather of the conflict between the kingdom of God and the powers of this world, and will be finally accomplished in the last general judgment."[7] There are historical instances of areas of 1,600 to 1,800 square miles being covered with locusts to a depth of four or five inches.[8]
14. 14. "And they shall cover the face of the earth.,." The Hebrew here has, "cover the eye of the land."[9] There are two ideas as to what this means. Dobson thought that, as the Egyptians regarded the sun and the moon as the eyes of the earth, "It meant to obscure the light of the sun."[10] Keil was of the opinion that, "It came from the ancient and truly poetic idea that the earth, with its covering of plants, looks up to man ... It was in the swarms that actually hid the ground that the fearful character of the plague consisted."[11] It appears to us that either of these explanations is acceptable, since the plague probably obscured the sun and hid the earth with a thick carpet of locusts also. CO STABLE, "Verses 1-20 Locusts (the eighth plague) 10:1-20 Moses explained another purpose of God in sending further plagues in this context, namely, so the Israelites in future generations would believe in Yahweh"s sovereignty ( Exodus 10:2) Locusts were and still are a menace in Egypt as well as in many other countries of the world. The wind drove them from the wetter areas to the whole land of Egypt, excluding Goshen, where they multiplied. They consumed the remaining half of the crops and trees left by the hail. [ ote: On the tremendously destructive power of locusts, see Davis, pp120-22.] Among their other gods, the Egyptians prayed to one manifested as a locust that they believed would preserve them from attacks by this devastating insect. [ ote: See Montet, pp39 , 169.] Pharaoh"s permission for the male Israelites to leave Egypt to worship God brought on by the urging of his counselors was arbitrary. Egyptian females worshipped with their husbands, and Pharaoh could have permitted both men and women to worship Yahweh. Pharaoh offered Moses three compromises, which the world still offers Christians. First, he suggested that the Israelites stay in Egypt ( Exodus 8:25). He said, in effect, You can be who you are, but live as a part of your larger culture; do not be distinctive. Second, he permitted them to leave Egypt but not to go far from it ( Exodus 8:28). He allowed them to separate from their culture but not drastically. Third, he gave permission for the males to leave, but their children had to remain in Egypt ( Exodus 10:8-11). Even godly parents are sometimes inclined to desire prosperity and worldly position for their children. Pharaoh"s servants seem to have been ready and willing to acknowledge Yahweh as a god, but for Pharaoh this conflict had greater significance. It was a test of sovereignty. The advice of Pharaoh"s servants reflects their extreme distress ( Exodus 10:7). "The king who . . . has a direct knowledge of the predestined order of the universe, cannot consult mere mortals. His decisions are represented as spontaneous creative acts motivated by considerations which are beyond human comprehension, although
15. 15. he may graciously disclose some of them." [ ote: Frankfort, p56.] Joseph had previously delivered the Egyptians from starvation, but now Moses brought them to starvation. Both effects were the result of official Egyptian policy toward Abraham"s descendants (cf. Genesis 12:3). Pharaoh"s confession of sin and his request for forgiveness were also most unusual ( Exodus 10:16). "The Egyptian viewed his misdeeds not as sins, but as aberrations. They would bring him unhappiness because they disturbed his harmonious integration with the existing world; they might even be explicitly disapproved by one or another of the gods, but these were always ready to welcome his better insight.... It is especially significant that the Egyptians never showed any trace of feeling unworthy of the divine mercy. For he who errs is not a sinner but a fool, and his conversion to a better way of life does not require repentance but a better understanding." [ ote: Ibid, p73.] ". . . the picture of a halting, confused Pharaoh plays well here at the conclusion of the plague narratives. It shows that Moses and Aaron were beginning to get on his nerves." [ ote: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., pp256-57.] The "Red Sea" ( Exodus 10:19) is the present Red Sea that lies to the east and south of the delta region. Some students of Exodus have mistakenly called it the Sea of Reeds. This opinion is due to the large quantity of papyrus reeds and seaweeds that some scholars have claimed grew on its banks and floated on its waters. However these reeds do not grow in salt water. [ ote: See Bernard F. Batto, "Red Sea or Reed Sea?" Biblical Archaeology Review10:4 (July-August1984):57-63 , and my note on14:2.] LA GE, ". I have hardened his heart.According to shallow rationalistic views, this betrays a low state of intelligence; viewed from the ethical relations of life, it indicates a very high one. Pharaohs acts of self-hardening preceded this; but after the seventh one, his sentence was determined; the following plagues, therefore, must complete his obduracy. Moses must know this beforehand, in order that he may not be discouraged respecting his mission. But that, under divine Revelation, he can foreknow it, is characteristic of the man who, being eminent in religious conscientiousness, has a wonderfully profound insight into the justice and judgments of God. The general prediction of Exodus 7:3-5 is now for the first time completely fulfilled; hence it is here repeated. PETT, "Verses 1-20 The Eighth Plague - The Plague of Locusts (Exodus 10:1-20). We note in this passage a distinct change of tone. o longer does Yahweh commence with the opening, let My people go (compare Exodus 8:1; Exodus 9:1; Exodus 9:13). Instead He says I have made strong (hardened) his heart and the heart of his
16. 16. officials in order to show my signs among them. The end was near and He no longer looked for Pharaohs honest response. Yet He had also begun in the same way in Exodus 7:14, although there it was because Pharaoh had made strong (hardened) his own heart. While Yahweh will still allow Moses and Aaron to make the call He recognises that the time for treaty is really past. Pharaoh has broken his word too often. a Yahweh tells Moses that he has hardened the hearts of Pharaoh and his officials in order that He might show His signs among them (Exodus 10:1). b It is in order that Israel might teach its children what God had achieved against Egypt and the signs that He has revealed, that it might be known that He is Yahweh (Exodus 10:2). c Moses and Aaron approach Pharaoh in Yahwehs name and ask how long he refuses to humble himself before Yahweh and calls on him to let Yahwehs people go (Exodus 10:3). d If he will not let them go locusts will be brought in who will cover the whole of the land and destroy all trees and vegetation and fill all their houses in a way that has not happened in living memory. Then Moses turned and went out from Pharaoh (Exodus 10:4-6). e Pharaohs officials plead with him to let the men go to serve Yahweh and ask Pharaoh if he realises how much the land has been subjected to destruction (Exodus 10:6). f So reluctantly Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron who are brought before him, and he tells them that they may go and serve Yahweh, but asks who will go (Exodus 10:8). g Moses replies that everyone must go including the cattle (Exodus 10:9). g Pharaoh declares that he will not let all go, only the men (Exodus 10:10-11 a). f Angry at their response Pharaoh causes them to be driven from his presence (Exodus 10:11 b). e Yahweh tells Moses to stretch out his hand over the land of Egypt in order to bring the locusts down on it to eat whatever the hail has left (including the wheat and the spelt) (Exodus 10:12). d Moses obeys Yahweh and an east wind brings in the locusts. The locusts arrive in huge numbers as never before or afterwards. They cover the face of the ground and eat everything that is left including the trees and vegetation (Exodus 10:13-15). c Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron in haste and confesses that he has sinned against both Yahweh their God and Moses (thus he will let the people go). He asks forgiveness and that they will entreat that this living death might be moved from them (Exodus 10:16-17). b Moses goes out from Pharaoh and entreats Yahweh and a west wind takes away the locusts so that none are left (thus making it known that He is Yahweh) (Exodus 10:18-19). a Yahweh hardens Pharaohs heart so that he will not let the children of Israel go (Exodus 10:20). In a we have Yahwehs statement that He has hardened Pharaohs heart and in the parallel the fact that He has hardened his heart. In b Israel is to teach its
17. 17. children what God has wrought in Egypt and what signs He has revealed so that they may know that He is Yahweh, in the parallel He mightily removes the vast clouds of locusts in one day, thus revealing what He is to Pharaoh and Egypt. In c Moses and Aaron approach Pharaoh and ask how long he will refuse to humble himself before Yahweh and demand that he will let Gods people go, in the parallel Pharaoh repents and humbles himself and admits that he has been in the wrong for not letting Israel go. In d they declare that if he will not let the people go God will bring down on Egypt great clouds of locusts who will eat the trees and vegetation, in the parallel those locusts are brought down on Egypt and consume all that is left including the trees and vegetation. In e Pharaohs official draw Pharaohs attention to how much Egypt has been devastated because of his intransigence and ask that he let the Israelites go, in the parallel Yahweh orders the completion of that devastation. In f Pharaoh reluctantly appears to concede defeat but questions what they are wanting, in the parallel, having found out, he hits back and causes them to be driven them from his presence. In g Moses demands that everyone may go including the cattle, and in the parallel Pharaoh declares that not everyone can go, only the men. Exodus 10:1-2 And Yahweh said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, for I have made strong his heart and the heart of his servants that I might show these my signs among them, and that you might tell in the ears of your son, and of your sons son, what things I have wrought on (how I have shown up) Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am Yahweh. The I is emphatic. The end is approaching and Yahweh is making things work according to His plan. The wonders wrought in Egypt had a number of purposes. They were not only intended to convince the Egyptians to finally send the children of Israel away, but also to strengthen the latters faith for the future and give an understanding that Yahweh is the One Who is there to act. ote that the specific aim is that these stories might be passed down to future generations, and be recited in their ears, not just as stories but as theological statements. And to someone who was used to recording things in writing (Exodus 17:14; Exodus 24:4-8; Exodus 34:27; umbers 33:1-2; Deuteronomy 31:9) such a command must surely have issued in the same result. Moses would put everything important down in writing! These my signs among them. His wonders were signs. They were intended to convince and give understanding. From them the Egyptians should have come to faith in Yahweh. And for a time some did, for they took their cattle inside to shelter from the hail (Exodus 9:20). But once the worst was over they soon forgot and convinced themselves that maybe their gods had won after all. From them too the children of Israel yet to come were to know the significance of the name of Yahweh, to know that I am Yahweh. We probably do not sufficiently appreciate the subservience of a nation that has
18. 18. been enslaved for a long time. They had lost their spirit and had little resistance. When Moses had arrived they had seen the signs that Yahweh had given him and their hearts had been uplifted. But as soon as Pharaoh proved obstinate they had been like sheep and their resistance had collapsed and all they had been able to do was blame Moses. Indeed part of the purpose of the plagues was probably in order to stiffen their confidence in what Yahweh could do, and to teach them to rise above their problems, so that when they found themselves in the wilderness they would have some courage which would come from their confidence in Yahweh. And as we know that constantly failed, so much so that when eventually they arrived at the borders of the land their courage collapsed altogether and they failed to make their entry. I have wrought on. The hithpael of alal means to make sport of, make a fool of, show up. Here Yahwehs intent is deadly serious. It is not in order to mock but in order to show up. His intent was to reveal them and their gods for what they are. ote again that Pharaohs high officials are now being included (compare Exodus 9:34), although there were clearly some who had reservations (Exodus 9:20) as the sequel brings out. This suggests that it was now seen to be an emergency situation, and the counsellors were regularly being called in and on almost constant alert. Pharaoh was no longer as confident as he had been. PULPIT, "THE EIGHTH PLAGUE. otwithstanding his self-condemnation and acknowledgment of the righteousness of God in all the judgments that had been sent upon him (Exodus 9:27), Pharaoh no sooner found that the seventh plague had ceased than he reverted to his old obstinacy. He both wilfully hardened his own heart (Exodus 9:34); and God, by the unfailing operation of his moral laws, further blunted or hardened it (Exodus 10:1). Accordingly, it became necessary that his stubbornness should be punished by one other severe infliction. Locusts, God's "great army," as they are elsewhere called (Joel 2:25), were the instrument chosen, so that once more the judgment should seem to come from heaven, and that it should be exactly fitted to complete the destruction which the hail had left unaccomplished (Exodus 10:5). Locusts, when they come in full force, are among the most terrible of all the judgments that can befall a country. "A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness" (Joel 2:3). They destroy every atom of foliagecrops, vegetables, shrubs, treeseven the bark of the fruit-trees suffers the stems are injured, the smaller branches completely peeled and "made white" (Joel 1:7). When Moses threatened this infliction, his words produced at once a great effect. The officers of the court"Pharaoh's servants," as they are calledfor the first time endeavoured to exert an influence over the king"Let the men go," they said; "knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?" (Exodus 10:7). And the king so far yielded thatalso for the first timehe let himself be influenced by the mere threat of a judgment. tie would have let the Israelites depart, before the locusts came, if only they would have left their "little ones" behind them (Exodus 10:8-11 ). Moses, however, could not consent to this limitation; and so the plague came in fall
19. 19. severity the locusts covered the whole face of the earth, so that the land was darkened with them (Exodus 10:15); and all that the hail had left, including the whole of the wheat and doora harvests, was destroyed. Then Pharaoh made fresh acknowledgment of his sin, and fresh appeals for intercessionwith the old result that the plague was removed, and that he remained as obdurate as ever (Exodus 10:16-20). Exodus 10:1 Go in unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart. The word "I" is expressed in the original and is emphatic. It is not merely that Pharaoh has hardened himself (Exodus 9:34); but I have "dulled" or "hardened" him. Therefore condescend to see him once more, and to bear my message to him. The heart of his servants. Compare Exodus 9:34. As Pharaoh's determination began to waver the influence of the court officers increased. Hence the frequent mention of them in this part of the narrative. That I might shew them my signs. The "fierceness of man" was being "turned to God's praise." It resulted from the obstinacy of Pharaoh that more and greater miracles were wrought, more wonderful signs shown, and that by these means both the Israelites themselves, and the heathen nations in contact with them, were the more deeply impressed. EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, "THE EIGHTH PLAGUE. Exodus 10:1-20. The Lord would not command His servant again to enter the dangerous presence of the sullen prince, without a reason which would sustain his faith: "For I have made heavy his heart." The pronoun is emphatic: it means to say, 'His foolhardiness is My doing and cannot go beyond My will: thou art safe.' And the same encouragement belongs to all who do the sacred will: not a hair of their head shall truly perish, since life and death are the servants of their God. Thus, in the storm of human passion, as of the winds, He says, "It is I, be not afraid"; making the wrath of man to praise Him, stilling alike the tumult of the waves and the madness of the people. It is possible that even the merciful mitigations of the last plague were used by infatuated hearts to justify their wilfulness: the most valuable crops of all had escaped; so that these judgments, however dire, were not quite beyond endurance. Just such a course of reasoning deludes all who forget that the goodness of God leadeth to repentance. Besides the reasons already given for lengthening out the train of judgments, it is added that Israel should teach the story to posterity, and both fathers and children should "know that I am Jehovah." Accordingly it became a favourite title--"The Lord which brought thee up out of the
20. 20. land of Egypt." Even the apostates under Sinai would not reject so illustrious a memory: their feast was nominally to Jehovah; and their idol was an image of "the gods which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 32:4-5). Has our land no deliverances for which to be thankful? Instead of boastful self- assertion, should we not say, "We have heard with our ears, O God, and our fathers have declared unto us, the noble works that Thou didst in their days and in the old time before them?" Have we forgotten that national mercies call aloud for national thanksgiving? And in the family, and in the secret life of each, are there no rescues, no emancipations, no enemies overcome by a hand not our own, which call for reverent acknowledgment? "These things were our examples, and are written for our admonition." The reproof now spoken to Pharaoh is sterner than any previous one. There is no reasoning in it. The demand is peremptory: "How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself?" With it is a sharp and short command: "Let My people go, that they may serve Me." And with this is a detailed and tremendous threat. It is strange, in the face of the knowledge accumulated since the objection called for it, to remember that once this narrative was challenged, because locusts, it was said, are unknown in Egypt. They are mentioned in the inscriptions. Great misery was caused by them in 1463, and just three hundred years later iebuhr was himself at Cairo during a plague of them. Equally arbitrary is the objection that Joel predicted locusts "such as there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after them, even to the years of many generations" (Exodus 2:2), whereas we read of these that "before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such" (Exodus 10:14). The objection is whimsical in its absurdity, when we remember that Joel spoke distinctly of Zion and the holy mountain (Exodus 2:1), and Exodus of "the borders of Egypt" (Exodus 10:14). But it is true that locusts are comparatively rare in Egypt; so that while the meaning of the threat would be appreciated, familiarity would not have steeled them against it. The ravages of the locust are terrible indeed, and coming just in time to ruin the crops which had escaped the hail, would complete the misery of the land. One speaks of the sudden change of colour by the disappearance of verdure where they alight as being like the rolling up of a carpet; and here we read "they shall cover the eye of the earth,"--a phrase peculiar to the Pentateuch (Exodus 10:15; umbers 22:5, umbers 22:11); "and they shall eat the residue of that which has escaped, ... and they shall fill thy houses, and the ... houses of all the Egyptians, which neither thy fathers nor thy fathers' fathers have seen." After uttering the appointed warning, Moses abruptly left, awaiting no negotiations, plainly regarding them as vain. But now, for the first time, the servants of Pharaoh interfered, declared the country to be ruined, and pressed him to surrender. And yet it was now first that we read (Exodus 10:1) that their hearts were hardened as well as his. For that is a hard heart
21. 21. that does not remonstrate against wrong, however plainly God reveals His displeasure, until new troubles are at hand, and which even then has no regard for the wrongs of Israel, but only for the woes of Egypt. It is a hard heart, therefore, which intends to repent upon its deathbed; for its motives are identical with these. Pharaoh's behaviour is that of a spoiled child, who is indeed the tyrant most familiar to us. He feels that he must yield, or else why should the brothers be recalled? And yet, when it comes to the point, he tries to play the master still, by dictating the terms for his own surrender; and breaks off the negotiation rather than do frankly what he must feel that it is necessary to do. Moses laid his finger accurately upon the disease when he reproached him for refusing to humble himself. And if his behaviour seem unnatural, it is worth observation that apoleon, the greatest modern example of proud, intellectual, godless infatuation, allowed himself to be crushed at Leipsic through just the same reluctance to do thoroughly and without self-deception what he found it necessary to consent to do. " apoleon," says his apologist, Thiers, "at length determined to retreat--a resolution humbling to his pride. Unfortunately, instead of a retreat frankly admitted ... he determined on one which from its imposing character should not be a real retreat at all, and should be accomplished in open day." And this perversity, which ruined him, is traced back to "the illusions of pride." Well, it was quite as hard for the Pharaoh to surrender at discretion, as for the Corsican to stoop to a nocturnal retreat. Accordingly, he asks, "Who are ye that shall go?" and when Moses very explicitly and resolutely declares that they will all go, with all their property, his passion overcomes him, he feels that to consent is to lose them for ever, and he exclaims, "So be Jehovah with you as I will let you go and your little ones: look to it, for evil is before you"--that is to say, Your intentions are bad. "Go ye that are men, and serve the Lord, for that is what ye desire,"--no more than that is implied in your demand, unless it is a mere pretence, under which more lurks than it avows. But he and they have long been in a state of war: menaces, submissions, and treacheries have followed each other fast, and he has no reason to complain if their demands are raised. Moreover, his own nation celebrated religious festivals in company with their wives and children, so that his rejoinder is an empty outburst of rage. And of a Jewish feast it was said, a little later, "Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou and thy son and thy daughter, and thy manservant and thy maidservant ... and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow" (Deuteronomy 16:11). There was no insincerity in the demand; and although the suspicions of the king were naturally excited by the exultant and ever-rising hopes of the Hebrews, and the defiant attitude of Moses, yet even now there is as little reason to suspect bad faith as to suppose that Israel, once released, could ever have resumed the same abject attitude toward Egypt as before. They would have come back victorious, and therefore ready to formulate new demands; already half emancipated, and therefore prepared for the perfecting of the work. And now, at a second command as explicit as that which bade him utter the
22. 22. warning, Moses, anxiously watched by many, stretched out his hand over the devoted realm. At the gesture, the spectators felt that a fiat had gone forth. But the result was strangely different from that which followed his invocation, both of the previous and the following plague, when we may believe that as he raised his hand, the hail-storm burst in thunder, and the curtain fell upon the sky. ow there only arose a gentle east wind (unlike the "exceeding strong west wind" that followed), but it blew steadily all that day and all the following night. The forebodings of Egypt would understand it well: the prolonged period during which the curse was being steadily wafted toward them was an awful measure of the wide regions over which the power of Jehovah reached; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts, that dreadful curse which Joel has compared to a disciplined and devastating invader, "the army of the Lord," and the first woe that heralds the Day of the Lord in the Apocalypse (Joel 2:1-11; Revelation 9:1-11). The completeness of the ruin brought a swift surrender, but it has been well said that folly is the wisdom which is only wise too late, and, let us add, too fitfully. If Pharaoh had only submitted before the plague instead of after it!(18) If he had only respected himself enough to be faithful, instead of being too vain really to yield! It is an interesting coincidence that, since he had this time defied the remonstrances of his advisers, his confession of sin is entirely personal: it is no longer, "I and my people are sinners," but "I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you." This last clause was bitter to his lips, but the need for their intercession was urgent: life and death were at stake upon the removal of this dense cloud of creatures which penetrated everywhere, leaving everywhere an evil odour, and of which a later sufferer complains, "We could not eat, but we bit a locust; nor open our mouths, but locusts filled them." Therefore he went on to entreat volubly, "Forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat Jehovah your God that He may take away from me this death only." And at the prayer of Moses, the Lord caused the breeze to veer and rise into a hurricane: "The Lord turned an exceeding strong west wind." ow, the locust can float very well upon an easy breeze, and so it had been wafted over the Red Sea; but it is at once beaten down by a storm, and when it touches the water it is destroyed. Thus simply was the plague removed. "But the Lord made strong Pharaoh's heart," and so, his fears being conquered, his own rebellious will went on upon its evil way. He would not let Israel go. This narrative throws light upon a thousand vows made upon sick beds, but broken when the sufferer recovers; and a thousand prayers for amendment, breathed in all the sincerity of panic, and forgotten with all the levity of security. It shows also, in the hesitating and abortive half-submission of the tyrant, the greater folly of many professing Christians, who will, for Christ's sake, surrender all their sins except one or two, and make any confession except that which really brings low their pride.
23. 23. Thoroughness, decision, depth, and self-surrender, needed by Pharaoh, are needed by every soul of man. BI 1-2, "Show these My signs. How God hardened Pharaohs heart I. By a manifestation of rich mercy, which ought to have melted the heart of the king. II. By a manifestation of great power, which ought to have subdued the heart of the king. III. By a manifestation of severe justice, which might have rebuked the heart of the king. IV. By sending His servants to influence the heart of the king to the right. God did not harden Pharaohs heart by a sovereign decree, so that he could not obey His command; but by ministries appropriate to salvation, calculated to induce obediencethe constant neglect of which was the efficient cause of this sad moral result. Lessons: 1. That man has the ability to resist the saving ministries of heaven. 2. That when man resists the saving ministries of heaven he becomes hard in heart. 3. That hardness of heart is itself a natural judgment from God. 4. That hardness of heart will finally work its own ruin. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) God sends His minister to hardened souls 1. Often. 2. Mercifully. 3. Uselessly. 4. Significantly. 5. Disastrously. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) Hardened sinners 1. In companies. 2. Patterns of judgments. 3. Tokens of indignation. 4. The cause of plagues. 5. The curse of the world. 6. Still followed by the minister of God. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) The signs of God to the generations of the future
24. 24. I. That God is supreme over the kingdom of nature. Science places the natural universe under the command of man. This is the Divine ordination. But mans power over nature is derived; Gods is underived and independent. Hence 1. He can inflict pain on the wicked. 2. He can protect the good from harm. 3. He can send famine or plenty. II. That God is supreme over the cunning and power of the devil. The magicians of Egypt were agents of the devil. They were inspired by him in their opposition to Moses and Aaron. They were aided by his cunning. Their defeat was his defeat also. 1. God can deliver men from the power of the devil. 2. God can destroy the works of the devil. 3. God can frustrate the designs of the devil. Teach this blessed truth and glorious fact to the youthful: that the good agencies of the universe are more potent than the bad. This will lead youthhood to confide in God. III. That goodness is happiness, and that conflict with God is the misery of man. Lessons: 1. That in the lives of individuals we have signs of God. 2. That all the signs of God in human life are to be carefully noted and taught to the young. 3. That all the signs of life are evidence of the Divine supremacy. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) The ministry of sin God makes Pharaoh to stand for the benefit of Israel, and in them for the benefit of humanity. It was for Pharaoh in the first instance to resist Divine light and grace, and oppress Israel; it was then for God to economise the tyrant and his wrath. The conduct of the Egyptian king served I. To reveal God. That ye may know how that I am the Lord. Pharaohs perverseness revealed all the more fully 1. The Divine love. 2. The Divine righteousness. 3. The Divine power. II. To further the interests of Israel. God overrules sin to high and happy issues. (W. L. Watkinson.) Transmitting the knowledge of the true God I. Jehovah made himself known to the Israelites in Egypt as the only true God by signs. His wondrous acts revealed His supremacy. Christ is the fullest revelation of the true God.
25. 25. II. That this knowledge is to be transmitted from generation to generation. Parental influence the most potent in telling of Gods acts. No lips teach like the lips of loving authority. Some parents neglect this solemn duty. Ever ready to speak about worldly enterprises, the acts of great men, their own; but they are silent about Gods. Such neglect is ruinous to their children and dishonouring to God. III. In the transmission of the knowledge, of the true God is the hope of the world. Wherever the knowledge of the true God prevails, righteousness and peace are found. Idolatry has ever been the bane of mankind. A false conception of God debases. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) By signs 1. Showing the woe of sin. 2. The folly of human malice. 3. The justice of God. 4. The safety of the Church. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) The signs 1. Their nature. 2. Their locality. 3. Their design. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) The Divine supremacy 1. Rejected by the proud. 2. Received by the good. 3. Revealed by the works of God. 4. To be acknowledged by all. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) The plagues So, allowing all that may be called romantic, supernatural, to fall off from this story of the plagues, there remains all that God wanted to remainthree things:First, the assertion of the Divine right in life. God cannot be turned out of His own creation; He must assert His claim, and urge it, and redeem it. The second thing that remains is the incontestable fact of human opposition to Divine voices. Divine voices call to right, to purity, to nobleness, to love, to brotherhood; and every day we resist these voices, and assert rebellious claims. The third thing that remains is the inevitable issue. We cannot fight God and win. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Why smite with feeble fist the infinite granite of the infinite strength? Who will lose? The certain result will be the overthrow of the sinner: the drowning of every Pharaoh who hardens himself against the Divine will and voice. Now that I come to think of it, have not all these plagues
26. 26. followed my own obstinacy and hardness of heart in relation to things Divine? We speak of the plagues of Egypt as though they began and ended in that distant land, and we regard them now as part of an exciting historical romance. I will think otherwise of them. The local incident and the local colour maybe dispensed with, but the supreme fact in my own consciousness is that God always follows my obstinacy with plagues. Dangers are rightly used when they move us to bolder prayer; losses are turned into gains when they lift our lives in an upward direction; disease is the beginning of health when it leads the sufferer to the Fathers house. Pharaoh had his plagues, many and awful; and every life has its penal or chastening visitations, which for the present are full of agony and bitterness, but which may be so used as to become the beginning of new liberties and brighter joys. (J. Parker, D. D.) Gods judgements Lay a book open before a child, or one that cannot read; he may stare and gaze upon it, but he can make no use of it at all, because he understandeth nothing in it; yet bring it to one that can read, and understandeth the language that is written in it, he will read you many stories and instructions out of it; it is dumb and silent to the one, but speaketh to, and talketh with, the other. In like manner it is with Gods judgments, as St. Augustine well applies it; all sorts of men see them, but few are able aright to read them or to understand them what they say; every judgment of God is a real sermon of reformation and repentance. (J. Spencer.) 2 that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord. CLARKE, "That thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son - That the miracles wrought at this time might be a record for the instruction of the latest posterity, that Jehovah alone, the God of the Hebrews, was the sole Maker, Governor, and Supporter of the heavens and the earth. Thus we find God so did his marvelous works, that they might be had in everlasting remembrance. It was not to crush the poor worm, Pharaoh, that he wrought such mighty wonders, but to convince his enemies, to the end of the world, that no cunning or power can prevail against him; and to show his followers that whosoever trusted in him should never be confounded.
27. 27. GILL, "And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son,.... Not of his sons and grandsons only; for Moses here, as Aben Ezra observes, was in the stead of Israel; and the sense is, that it should be told to their posterity in all succeeding ages: what things I have wrought in Egypt; the plagues that he inflicted on the Egyptians: and my signs which I have done amongst them; meaning the same things which were signs: that ye may know how that I am the Lord; that their God is the true Jehovah, and the one only living and true God; the Lord God omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, infinite, and eternal. JAMISO , "And that thou mayest tell ... of thy son, and of thy sons son, etc. There was a further and higher reason for the infliction of those awful judgments, namely, that the knowledge of them there, and the permanent record of them still, might furnish a salutary and impressive lesson to the Church down to the latest ages. Worldly historians might have described them as extraordinary occurrences that marked this era of Moses in ancient Egypt. But we are taught to trace them to their cause: the judgments of divine wrath on a grossly idolatrous king and nation. ELLICOTT, "(2) That thou mayest tell.Those who experience Gods mercies are bound to hand on the memory of what He has done for them to future generations. atural gratitude would prompt such action. But, lest the duty should be neglected, the Israelites had it at this time constantly enjoined upon them (Exodus 12:26-27; Exodus 13:14-15; Deuteronomy 32:7; Joshua 4:6, &c): TRAPP, "Exodus 10:2 And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy sons son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I [am] the LORD. Ver. 2. And that thou mayest tell.] The memory of Gods magnalia, his great works, must be transmitted to posterity - Ut nati natorum et qui nascentur ab illis, that later ages may hear and fear this great God. See 1 Samuel 4:8. LA GE, "Exodus 10:2. That thou mayest tell.How Israel related these miraculous signs to children and childrens children, is shown in Psalm 78, 105 (Keil).
28. 28. 3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. CLARKE, "How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself - Had it been impossible for Pharaoh, in all the preceding plagues, to have humbled himself and repented can we suppose that God could have addressed him in such language as the preceding? We may rest assured that there was always a time in which he might have relented, and that it was because he hardened his heart at such times that God is said to harden him, i.e., to give him up to his own stubborn and obstinate heart; in consequence of which he refused to let the people go, so that God had a fresh opportunity to work another miracle, for the very gracious purposes mentioned in Exo_10:2. Had Pharaoh relented before, the same gracious ends would have been accomplished by other means. GILL, "And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh,.... As the Lord commanded them, for what is before said to Moses was designed for Aaron also, his prophet and spokesman: and said unto him, thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews; as the ambassadors of the God of Israel, and in his name said: how long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? to acknowledge his offence, lie low before God, and be subject to his will; he had humbled himself for a moment, but then this did not continue; what God expected of him, and complains of the want of, was such a continued humiliation before him, and such a subjection to him, as would issue in complying with what he had so often demanded of him, and is as follows: let my people go, that they may serve me; see Exo_9:1. HE RY, "Pharaoh is reproved (Exo_10:3): Thus saith the Lord God of the poor, despised, persecuted, Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Note, It is justly expected from the greatest of men that they humble themselves before the great God, and it is at their peril if they refuse to do it. This has more than once been God's quarrel with princes. Belshazzar did not humble his heart, Dan_5:22. Zedekiah humbled not himself before Jeremiah, 2Ch_36:12. Those that will not humble themselves God will humble. Pharaoh had sometimes pretended to humble himself, but
29. 29. no account was made of it, because he was neither sincere nor constant in it. K&D, "As Pharaoh had acknowledged, when the previous plague was sent, that Jehovah was righteous (Exo_9:27), his crime was placed still more strongly before him: How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before Me? ( for , as in Exo_ 34:24). CALVI , "3.And Moses and Aaron came in. Moses now relates how, at Gods command, he tried whether Pharaohs heart, after so many experiments, would be bent to obedience out of fear of the new punishment which impended. But by this proof his impiety was better known, since, although he saw his kingdom deprived of a part of its corn, he fears not what is denounced by Moses respecting the other part. Therefore he reproves him still more severely, inquiring, How long wilt thou proudly resist the command of God? For since plagues vanquish even the worst natures, it was marvelous that the king, having been smitten eight times, and in so awful a manner, was still unwilling to yield, as if he were in safety, and unaffected by any injury. But we may learn from this passage, that we are chastised with this object by the rods of God, that we may return from the indulgence of our lusts to submission to Him. This Moses calls (and Peter after him, 1 Peter 5:6) to humble ourselves before God, or beneath His mighty hand, when, having experienced His formidable power, we reverently submit ourselves to His dominion. Whence it follows, that they, who are neither tamed nor bent by the fear of punishment., struggle against God as with an iron (116) brow. Let fear, then, teach us to repent; and that we may not provoke His vengeance by proud contempt, let us learn that nothing is more terrible than to fall into His hands. Moses also hints that Pharaohs contention was not with the Israelites only, but with God who undertook their cause. And let us not doubt, therefore, that all tyrants, who unjustly persecute the Church, contend with God Himself, to whose powers they will find themselves far inferior. BE SO , "Exodus 10:3. How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself? By this it appears that Gods design was not to harden Pharaoh, but to humble him by these extraordinary judgments. It is justly expected from the greatest of men that they should humble themselves before the great God, and it is at their peril if they refuse to do it. Those that will not humble themselves, God will humble. COKE, "Exodus 10:3. How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself This expression plainly proves, that God's intention was not to harden Pharaoh by these singular judgments. His gracious purpose was to have humbled him; i.e. to have brought him to a just sense of himself, and to a lowly acknowledgment of the sovereignty of Jehovah. TRAPP, "Exodus 10:3 And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.
30. 30. Ver 3. How long wilt thou refuse?] God thinks long of the time that men misspend and waste in wicked courses. [Jeremiah 4:14; Jeremiah 13:27] It is a savoury saying of Bernard, Totum vitae meae tempus perdidi, quia perdite vixi: the time of my looseness I have utterly lost. LA GE, "Exodus 10:3. To humble thyself.Jehovah speaks now in a severer tone. After so many apparent failures, this is a proof that Moses has his confidence and his word from God. Analogous is the heathen legend of the Sibyl who, for the prophetical books twice reduced in number, kept asking the same price. PETT, "Exodus 10:3 And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews. How long will you refuse to humble yourselves before me? Let my people go that they may serve me. ote that Yahweh no longer tells them to do this. But they still make the same request, that they may be allowed to worship Yahweh in the wilderness. The diplomatic show has to go on. However, the battle has produced in Pharaoh a total feeling of intransigence. To yield now would be to admit Yahwehs superiority over himself and the gods of Egypt. And that is indeed what Yahweh now demands. You refuse to humble yourselves before me. The Egyptians may not learn the lesson but the children of Israel would never forget it. It would be with them in their memories and in their Psalms for ever. They knew now that their God was over all. SIMEO , "O DELAYI G OUR REPE TA CE Exodus 10:3. Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? IT cannot be denied that Pharaoh was a remarkable character, raised up by God himself to be a monument of Gods power throughout all generations [ ote: Exodus 9:16.]. Yet we mistake if we think that the dispositions which he exercised were peculiar to him: the occasions that called them forth into exercise, were peculiar; but the dispositions themselves were the common fruits of our corrupt nature, visible in all the human race. The command given to Pharaoh to permit all the Hebrews to go into the wilderness to offer sacrifice to their God, he chose not to comply with: and all the judgments inflicted on him, and the mercies vouchsafed to him, were ineffectual for the subduing of his rebellious spirit, and for the reducing of him to a willing obedience. And every one who reads the history of these events stands amazed at the pride and obduracy of his heart. But if we would look inward, and see how we have withstood the commands of God, and how little effect either his judgments or his mercies have produced on us, we should find little occasion to exult over Pharaoh: we should see, that, however circumstances then elicited and rendered more conspicuous the evils of his heart, the very same corruptions, which he manifested, are in us also, and that every individual amongst us has the same need as he of the expostulation in the text; How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? And it is remarkable that this very account of Pharaoh was
31. 31. ordered to be transmitted to the latest posterity, in order that the children of all succeeding generations might see in it what his enemies are to expect at His hands, and what his friends [ ote:, 2.]. That we may render this subject the more generally useful, we will, I. Shew wherein true humiliation consists A full and abstract investigation of this point would lead us too far: we shall therefore confine ourselves to such particulars as the context more immediately suggests. True humiliation then consists in, 1. A deep and ingenuous sorrow for sin, as contrasted with forced acknowledgments [If confessions extorted by sufferings or by fear were sufficient evidences of humility, Pharaoh would never have received the reproof in our text: for on the plague of hail being inflicted, he sent for Moses and said, I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous; and I and my people are wicked [ ote: Exodus 9:27.]. But notwithstanding this, in Gods estimation he still, as the text expresses it, refused to humble himself before God. Yet is this the only humiliation which many amongst ourselves have ever experienced. In a time of sickness perhaps, or under any great and accumulated afflictions, we have been constrained to confess our desert of Gods judgments. We have seen, that He has been contending with us; and that yet heavier judgments awaited us, if we did not humble ourselves before him. We have trembled perhaps at the prospect of approaching dissolution, and at the thought of appearing in an unprepared state at the tribunal of our Judge. Hence have arisen some forced acknowledgments of our sinfulness, whilst yet we neither hated our sins, nor lothed ourselves on account of them: and hence, on our restoration to health, we have returned, like fused metal from the furnace, to our wonted hardness and obduracy. True humiliation is widely different from this. It implies a deep and ingenuous sorrow for sin, not only on account of the judgments it will bring upon us, but on account of its own intrinsic hatefulness and deformity. It leads us to smite on our breasts with conscious shame; and fills us with self-lothing and self-abhorrence: and this it does not only before we have obtained mercy, but afterwards; yea, and so much the more because God is pacified towards us [ ote: Job 42:6 with Ezekiel 16:63.]. We readily acknowledge that tears are no certain sign of penitence; and that the sensibility that produces them depends rather on the constitutional habit, than on the convictions of the mind. Yet whilst we read so much in the Scriptures respecting men sowing in tears, and going on their way weeping, and whilst we behold the Saviour himself weeping over Jerusalem, and pouring out his soul before God with strong crying and tears, we cannot but think, that those who have never yet wept for sin, have never felt its bitterness: and there is just occasion for us to weep over all
32. 32. who have not yet wept for themselves. It is scarcely to be conceived that any man has a truly broken and contrite spirit, whose sighs and groans have not often entered into the ears of the omnipresent God, and whose tears have not been often treasured up in his vials.] 2. An unreserved obedience to God, as contrasted with partial compliances [Pharaoh, under the pressure of his successive calamities, yielded in part to the commands of God: he resisted altogether at the first; but gradually receded from his determinations, and permitted the Hebrews to offer their sacrifices in Egypt; then to go into the wilderness, provided they did not go very far into it: then he would let the men go: then at last the women and children also: but he would net suffer them to take away their cattle: those he was determined to keep, as a pledge of their return. In all this there was nothing but pride and stoutness of heart. He held every thing fast, till it was wrested from him by some fresh judgment, and conceded nothing but from absolute compulsion. And thus it is that many amongst ourselves part with their sins. They would retain them all, and gladly too, if the indulgence of them would consist with their hope from heaven. If they part with any, they do it as a mariner who casts his goods overboard to lighten his ship and keep it from sinking: but it is with reluctance that he parts with them; and he wishes for them all again, the very instant he is safe on shore. From the same motive flows his performance of certain duties: he engages not in them from any delight that he has in them, but from a self-righteous desire of purchasing heaven by these sacrifices. But in all this there is nothing of true humiliation, nothing of real piety. The sinner, when his heart is right with God, desires to fulfil all the commandments of his God: not one of them is grievous unto him: he would not wish to be allowed to violate any one of them; but desires to stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. He would not retain a right eye or a right hand, that should be an occasion of offence to his God and Saviour. As it is his prayer that Gods will may be done by him on earth as it is in heaven, so is it his daily endeavour to carry it into effect: and, could he but hare the desire of his soul, he would be pure as Christ himself is pure, and perfect as his Father which is in heaven is perfect. This union of deep sorrow for the past, and of unreserved obedience for the future, is marked by God himself as constituting that state of mind which alone will prove effectual for our acceptance with him.] Having explained the nature of true humiliation, we proceed to, II. Expostulate with those in whom it is not ye